


Two

by idkimtired



Series: counting princes [4]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Assassin AU, F/M, very short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:07:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idkimtired/pseuds/idkimtired
Summary: Thea creeps through the prince’s rooms with her knife drawn, craning her neck around each corner and peering into each shadow, fighting off the creeping anxiety crawling up her spine at the silence. Each room feels abandoned, unlived in and cold, windows open wide, their curtains billowing in the night's breeze, blowing in moonlight that throws each shape into an eerie light, twisting shadows and creating non existent childhood monsters in the dark.
Relationships: Kevin Day/Thea Muldani
Series: counting princes [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1808140
Comments: 1
Kudos: 32





	Two

Thea creeps through the prince’s rooms with her knife drawn, craning her neck around each corner and peering into each shadow, fighting off the creeping anxiety crawling up her spine at the silence. Each room feels abandoned, unlived in and cold, windows open wide, their curtains billowing in the night's breeze, blowing in moonlight that throws each shape into an eerie light, twisting shadows and creating non existent childhood monsters in the dark. Aware of the clock ticking against her, Thea slips quietly into the prince’s bedroom, dominated by a king sized bed. Empty. She feels her stomach drop - had they miscalculated things so badly? Was he gone, out of the castle for the night - were they all? But the open windows catch her eye, flimsy curtains not quite hiding the figure out on the balcony. Trying not to feel too relieved, Thea keeps to the shadows as she tiptoes over but the prince doesn't notice her even as she steps up behind him, basked in the silver light. He lounges back on a precariously balanced chair, feet propped up on the balcony’s edge, head thrown back to stare up into the night. His hand grips a clear bottle and she watches as he takes a deep swallow before propping the bottle up on his knees and pinching the bridge of his nose with a sigh.

She acts then, darting forward and putting a knife to his throat from behind before he can move. He jerks away from it instinctively, hitting her stomach with his head, before his panicked eyes look up to see her. She doesn't know what she should feel now that she finally is going to do it - relief? The anger that's been chewing at her stomach for months continues to bite away hungrily at her, burning away at something deep inside until she lets it burn something else instead. He should know why she’s doing this, why he should die and she should be the one to do it. 

“I'm going to kill you,” she says, then- “No you don't get to talk.” when he opens his mouth. Thea takes a deep shuddering breath of night air. “I'm going to kill you and you should know why.” Her words speed up, spilling out of her without a single breath in between, needing an exit, needing someone to force to carry their weight. “I used to work here, in the palace, as a captain. I was  _ loyal _ , to you, to your family, the state. Until you killed my little sister. You stood by and watched as she was executed and by doing nothing you might as well have been the one to kill her. Her name was Brooke and you probably don't even remember her but you should, you should. It wasn't her fault and she didn't deserve to die but you killed her and now she's gone. She's gone… and you should know that that's why you're going to die. Because of her.” Thea gasps in a breath, trembling and hating that she lost her composure, hating that she’s kept this all inside since she realised she would never see her little sister again but that it's forcing its way out now of all times and places. An uncertain silence follows her speech as she tries to find her breath.

“I remember you,” he says and everything inside her drops and shatters on the floor. She looks back down at his wide dark eyes, frowning now as he watches her. “You're Thea.” Thrown, she doesn't have a reply, she didn't expect him to remember her, much less know her name. It changes nothing. He barks a laugh, is he more drunk than she thought? It won't be as satisfying if he’s too drunk to understand what's going on. “You really think I have any say in the executions?”

“You don't have to have a say in them,” she fires back, “You stood and  _ watched _ . That might as well be approval.”

“You aren't the only one with siblings to protect.” His eyes darken, voice lowering. “Neil and Jean,” he says hollowly, a terrible realisation dawning in his eyes, “Are they…?” Thea expects to feel something when grief floods his eyes as she nods, a victory of sorts, knowing that he’s feeling some of the pain she’s been carrying around for months, but instead something inside hollows out. She can barely look at him. Has she been as bad? Have others noticed the emptiness in her eyes she can now see in his? How can she possibly be glad of their deaths when she knows someone grieves for them the same way she grieves for Brooke? She feels sick all of a sudden, wishing she were anywhere else.

“At least Riko’s gone.” Bitter and lost-sounding, he no longer seems to care about the knife at his throat, taking a deep swallow from his bottle with no fears of getting cut. The words are blunt and emotionless but Thea doesn't care enough about petty royal drama to figure them out. Jean and Neil would mourn him if they were still alive, she realises, they would feel the never ending roll of pain in the gut she does, they would hate her like she hates them. Instead Kevin is left to mourn them in his last minutes. It’s something she should have thought of before, had actually, but it was different from seeing the proof in front of her. He’s human. 

When she doesn't move, the prince looks back up at her. He must see something in her face because he raises his bottle. “Need a drink?” Thea has never been in more need of a drink. Throwing safety and plans and timing out the window she snatches the bottle off him, lowering her knife and stalking away to throw herself down onto the chair beside him. They pass the bottle back and forth in silence, the liquor burning it's path down her throat. 

“What would have happened if you did protest the execution?” she asks into the night, head turned away from him so as not to have to deal with whatever she might see there. After a moment she thinks he isn't going to reply and glances over. He’s staring at his hands and the bottle in them. He takes a long drink before replying.

“Who knows? Punishments started getting creative a while back… i would have had to watch and, well it's never the face. Can't have scars on one of our pretty faces huh? Too visible, too public.” He laughs bitterly and takes another swig, finishing the bottle. Thea can't stand the pain and exhaustion on his face. She looks away. “Jean and Neil started betting on how long it would take for an assassin to get through,” he says after a moment, “You took longer than either of them thought.”

“What did you think?”

“No point thinking about it. A waste of time. But i didn't think anyone would make it.”

“I'm not alone.”

“One of the revolutionaries?” He says it like he thinks they’re a joke. She clenches her jaw. 

“Yes actually.”

“A bunch of idealists with no real plan.”

“Excuse me?”

“What are you doing here Thea? Nothing changes without me or Jean or Neil or even Riko. Go kill the King or even the  _ Crown _ Prince if you actually want to change anything.”

“We have a plan,” she snaps defensively, “And we are going to. But we can't let the country just fall back into the reserve of princes.”

“Whatever.”

“Whatever.”

She steams in silence, arms crossed and scowling at the dark, feeling like a small child but unwilling to stop. Should she just kill him? Is she procrastinating? Why? Thea gets up, her chair falling with a clatter at the brusque movement, and Kevin starts so violently he almost falls off his chair. She rolls her eyes at him.

“Come with me.”

“What?” She doesn't know if he looks more offended, by what she couldn't say, or surprised.

“This is your one way out. Either I kill you right now or you come with me and join the rebels. Maybe you can come up with a better plan since you're so fond of criticising ours, whatever. You choose, just do it fast.” He stares at her, mouth opening and closing in shock. She taps her foot impatiently, her own decision made, suddenly eager to get out and as far away as possible, doing her best to ignore the clear two on his cheek claiming him as part of something he cant just walk away from. Screw them. He glances at her hip where her knife is hidden.

“Come with you. I'll… i'm, i'll come with you,” he says, sounding dazed and she nods, something loosening in her shoulders.

“Well then, let's go.” He nods and lurches unsteadily to his feet. She puts out a hand to steady him, then slings an arm under his shoulders when it becomes clear he’s going to need help walking. 

She doesn't look back.

**Author's Note:**

> rest of the story continued / started in the rest of the series but focusing on different ships - sorry if you dont ship them :/   
> ... i dont really have an opinion on these two tbh but it fit with the story so...


End file.
